After being away for about ten days, a layer of dust had settled in the house, so Ning Shu and Lin Guodong started cleaning.

They swept from the kitchen to the dining room, and then into the two bedrooms. After one round of cleaning, Ning Shu was exhausted.

Seeing it was almost lunchtime, Lin Guodong couldn’t bear to see her cooking with such fatigue. “Take a break. I’ll prepare lunch,” he said.

“Okay, if there’s congee, I’d like that,” Ning Shu replied.

“Got it,” Lin Guodong nodded.

He hadn’t been gone long when their three boys returned with their dogs Da Mao and Tie Dan.

“Mom… Mom…”

“Mom, I have a question.” Erbao ran up to Ning Shu, who was sitting on a stool, sweat dripping down her forehead. Concerned, he asked, “Mom, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?”

When Yibao heard this, he hurried over to see.

“I’m fine. I just got a bit tired after cleaning the house. Resting a bit will be fine. Did you thank Uncle Warrior for bringing Da Mao and Tie Dan back?” Ning Shu said.

“We did,” Yibao replied.

“I’ll give you a back rub, Mom.” Erbao ran behind Ning Shu’s back and started gently patting her back. “Does that feel better, Mom?”

“It feels great. Thank you, Erbao,” Ning Shu said, smiling.

Erbao beamed.

Seeing this, Yibao and Sanbao didn’t want to be left out. “Mom, I’ll massage your legs.” Sanbao squatted down and started massaging Ning Shu’s legs.

Da Mao and Tie Dan lay nearby, their bright eyes fixed on the family.

Their gaze was deep, as if they could speak.

With nothing else to do, Yibao thought for a moment before speaking up. “Mom, let me get a towel to wipe your sweat.”

“No need, no need,” Ning Shu stopped him. “You were about to ask me something earlier?”

“Oh, right,” Yibao asked, “Mom, when will Da Mao and Tie Dan have puppies?”

Ning Shu paused, puzzled. “Why do you ask?”

Yibao explained, “We want to take Da Mao and Tie Dan back to our hometown in the future. But the soldier who takes care of military dogs said they can’t go on trains, only on cars with four wheels. I was thinking, when my brother and I become scientists and invent that car, we can drive them back to our hometown. if Da Mao and Tie Dan have puppies, the car with four wheels will need to be bigger. Otherwise, our family plus their family won’t fit in it.”

Ning Shu pondered what to say.

Should she remark on how far-reaching Lin Yibao’s thoughts were, or praise his ambition, as if he had already predicted he’d become a scientist one day?

She wanted to add that just attending interest classes doesn’t guarantee becoming a scientist.

But she decided not to deflate his dream.

Let him strive towards his dream of becoming a scientist.

“Mum?” Yibao called out when he noticed her staring at him. “Mum, when do you think Da Mao and Tie Dan will have puppies?”

Sighing, Ning Shu realized Da Mao and Tie Dan were too old to have puppies.

Dogs age differently than humans; under normal circumstances, they can live to about ten or more years, but military dogs like Da Mao and Tie Dan have shorter lifespans.

Da Mao and Tie Dan were already around five or six years old, which is middle-aged for dogs.

The likelihood of them having puppies was low and risky.

She hesitated to tell her sons.

They were still young, and knowing that Da Mao and Tie Dan might not live much longer would be heartbreaking.

Ning Shu didn’t want them to understand life and death at this age.

“I don’t know about puppies,” Ning Shu said. “Da Mao and Tie Dan are dogs, and I’m a human. Just like we can’t speak dog language, dogs can’t speak human language.”

Lin Erbao thought about it and agreed with his mum’s reasoning. But then he asked, “So, Mum, when are you going to give us a little sister?”

Ning Shu was taken aback.

Did Lin Erbao switch from asking about dogs to asking about people?

Lin Erbao, you might be disappointed.

Your dad has already had a vasectomy, so you won’t have a little brother or sister.

“No, wait,” Ning Shu corrected herself. “Er Bao, why do you want a sister? Don’t you want a brother instead?”

Erbao widened his eyes and gave his mom a look that seemed to say, “Mom, are you silly?”

Then he said, “Mom, I already have a little brother—San Bao. I’ve already got a Elder brother, so now I just want a little sister.”

Ning Shu was taken aback.

She had overthought it.

“So, Mom, when will you give us a little sister?” Er Bao persisted with his question.

How should she respond to this?

Ning Shu thought for a moment. “Er Bao, each person can only have a limited number of children in their lifetime. Mom can only have three babies in her lifetime, so I can’t have any more.”

“Huh?” Er Bao blinked, not quite understanding what she meant.

His eight-year-old mind couldn’t grasp such complex ideas.

But if Mom said she couldn’t have any more, then she couldn’t.

Er Bao had only asked casually.

He didn’t really want a little sister.

If they had one, he would take good care of her, just like he did with San Bao.

But if not, it was okay too.

He had his older brother and San Bao, and they were happy every day.

“What’s going on here?” Lin Guodong returned from the kitchen with their meal.

He saw Yibao massaging his wife’s legs, San Bao patting her back, and Er Bao wiping her sweat.

Lin Guodong’s lips twitched.

He felt like his wife was acting like an ancient empress right now.

“Mom was tired from working, so we’re massaging her,” Er Bao explained. “Dad, what dishes did you prepare?” After eating plenty of meat back home, Er Bao wasn’t so keen on it today.

Back in their hometown, Lin’s mother used to slaughter chickens almost every day, whether for chicken soup or braised dishes.

They rarely missed out.

Lin’s mother raised two chickens at home and two more in Ning Shu’s family’s name, totaling four chickens.

They laid about two to four eggs per day.

Selling these eggs to the cooperative brought in a decent income, making their life quite comfortable in the countryside.

Lin’s mother was generous in using the chickens for food, especially for San Bao.

“We have radishes, cabbage, eggs, mixed-flour steamed buns, and sweet potatoes,” Lin Guodong replied. Speaking of which, one thing that set his wife apart from others was her fondness for sweet potatoes, which many people didn’t like. She almost ate them every day, especially for breakfast.

Ning Shu said, “Finish your meal quickly. If you feel tired, you can skip classes this afternoon and go tomorrow instead. But if you’re not tired, you should go this afternoon.”

Yibao replied, “Mom, I’m not tired. I can go to class this afternoon.” Being a diligent student, he was eager to return to classes.

Erbao chimed in, “Then I’ll go with my brother.” Wherever his brother went, he followed, taking cues from him.

“I’ll go too,” Sanbao added. Like his older brothers, he often followed their lead.

Ning Shu nodded. “Alright, you can go to class this afternoon. I’ll finish my meal and check on the sugarcane. Maybe by the time you come back from school, we can have some sugarcane.”

“Really?” three boys were excited.

It had been a long time—almost two years—since they last had sugarcane.

They hadn’t even had any during this visit to their hometown.

Sugarcane in their hometown was planted in spring and harvested in summer, while here, it was planted this summer and would be ready by winter.

Normally, sugarcane in their hometown could be planted twice a year, but Lin’s parents preferred using their land for grains and vegetables.

“Yes, really,” Ning Shu confirmed.

After lunch and tidying up, the boys headed to school while Lin Guodong and Ning Shu went to tend the vegetable garden.

The sugarcane was planted in the family’s vegetable garden.

Though the plot of land allocated to them by the military wasn’t large, they only planted half of it with sugarcane; the rest was reserved for vegetables.

“It’s good that we only planted half the plot with sugarcane. If we planted the whole thing, people would surely gossip about Ning Shu’s family. They’d say while others use their land for vegetables, they indulge in luxuries like sugarcane.”

The sugarcane had grown quite tall.

It wasn’t like the modern varieties that could reach over two meters, but it was around one meter sixty-seven in height.

Ning Shu picked out the largest one. “Guodong, cut this sugarcane.”

“Okay,” Lin Guodong said, taking a kitchen knife to chop it down.

Unlike the boys who had eaten sugarcane before, Lin Guodong hadn’t had any since he was young.

He used to eat corn stalks, and the sweet taste had faded from his memory.

But now, seeing the sugarcane, the memory seemed to return.

Lin Guodong wiped the knife on his pants; the base of the sugarcane was a bit dirty from being cut.

He swung the knife down, cleanly slicing through the base of the sugarcane, severing it. “How’s this?”

“Cut it in half from the middle,” Ning Shu instructed. “I’ll taste it to see if it’s sweet. If it is, cut two more.”

“Alright.” Lin Guodong sliced it in half. “Which half do you want?”

Ning Shu took the lower half, took a bite, and her eyes lit up. “It’s quite sweet. We can eat it. Cut two more to take back. I’ll keep this part I’ve bitten.”

The sweetness was no different from modern sugarcane.

In fact, Ning Shu didn’t find modern sugarcane significantly sweeter.

The biggest difference was that modern sugarcane was longer and more brittle.

For those with good teeth, chewing on sugarcane from this era was quite relaxing.

Lin Guodong cut two more pieces of sugarcane, and they headed back.

Passing through the back gate, Lin Guodong handed half a sugarcane to the two guards.

“Thank you, Captain Lin,” the guards saluted.

But since it was their duty time, they couldn’t eat it until their shift ended.

Meanwhile, at school, the three boys were enthusiastically sharing stories about their hometown.

“Me and my brother even rolled out the wedding bed sheets for the groom’s family. Do you know what rolling out the wedding bed sheets means?” Er Bao asked, with an air of mystery, to the curious group of friends gathered around him.